


give me your hand (give me everything you've got)

by loonyBibliophile



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: F/M, Ghost Drifting, jaeger pilots au, transferred from my tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-09
Updated: 2016-03-09
Packaged: 2018-05-25 17:58:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6205105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loonyBibliophile/pseuds/loonyBibliophile
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons had been working in a lab in England when the breach cracked the earth open and threatened everything. At first, despite being aware of the wide spread panic it caused, it wasn’t much of a thought for them. England didn’t border the Pacific. They were, for the most part, safe. But once the development of the Jaeger program was in full swing, their superior informed them they were being transferred to a facility in Hong Kong to help with the J-Tech and K-Science programs. With Fitz being an engineering genius and weaponry development expert and Simmons being one of the best biochemists in the world, they were an obvious choice to help with the program.</p>
            </blockquote>





	give me your hand (give me everything you've got)

Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons had been working in a lab in England when the breach cracked the earth open and threatened everything. At first, despite being aware of the wide spread panic it caused, it wasn’t much of a thought for them. England didn’t border the Pacific. They were, for the most part, safe. But once the development of the Jaeger program was in full swing, their superior informed them they were being transferred to a facility in Hong Kong to help with the J-Tech and K-Science programs. With Fitz being an engineering genius and weaponry development expert and Simmons being one of the best biochemists in the world, they were an obvious choice to help with the program. 

As an added bonus, Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons were, to say the least, close. Close was the simplest way to describe the almost supernatural bond the two had, and always had had, since they got paired up in an early level anatomy course at university. When they worked, it was almost as if they were already one person. A scout for the facility in Korea has watched them on a project site for ten minutes and immediately asked to bring them on. A pair of drift compatible scientists, who could test the technology they helped develop, would be an invaluable asset. 

Officially, Simmons was there to mostly handle the effects the Kaiju blood had on people and the environment. And officially, Fitz was there to help further develop the weapons capabilities of the Jaegers, to minimize damage to cities and civilians while making killing the Kaiju faster and simpler and cleaner. But they were also there to fight if needed, and fine tune the workings of the Drift by entering it. This turned out to be incredibly helpful, because while the two worked insanely quickly and in sync with one another normally, they could solve problems twice as fast in the drift, with their minds mixing as one. 

There was never any hesitance when Fitz and Simmons entered the drift, not even the first time. It was like their minds had been made to become one brain. Their quick reaction times to each other’s mental state prevented either from ever being tempted to chase the R.A.B.I.T. and had they been more physically adept, they would have been a first line of defense. Because they were less athletically inclined, their primary role was in K-Science and J-Tech, but they stepped in to fight when needed. 

They almost didn’t notice, after their first drift, that they were ghosting. It was second nature for Simmons to discern was Fitz was feeling, and vice versa, so when it came without effort, they almost missed it. It wasn’t until she reached over to smooth his shirt collar, rumpled from being in their Jaeger, Robo Oparin, practicing, that she noticed while she felt her hand on his shoulder, she could also feel the vague trace of fingers on her own shoulder. She tilted her head and noticed Fitz’s hand twitch, as if he could feel the fabric against his skin. 

“Did you-” she started, and he nodded in response, swallowing. 

“Yeah. Yeah I did.”

“Curious. It’s not-”

“Especially common, no, no it isn’t." 

Tilting her head, she reached her hand out and brushed it against his neck. Again, she could swore she felt fingers on her own skin, and she could see his hand moving to do the same to her before he even shifted a single finger. His thumb brushed a path along her jawline, and she felt the sensation two fold, his fingers, and the echo he felt on his own skin. She shivered.

"How very curious.” she mumbled, moving her hand along his jaw.

“It’s weird, knowin’ what’s in your head and hearin’ you say it at the same time.” he furrowed his brow, then frowned abruptly “What do you mean I’m cute when I’m thinking?”

“Do you really need me to answer that? You’re still sort of in my brain after all." 

"Isn’t ghost drifting supposed to be greatly muted?”

“I suspect, and I know you do too, that it’s effects have been amplified by how psychologically close we were to begin with. The physical proximity is also probably aiding it.” she nodded down, indicating how close they’d shuffled over the course of their conversation and the way they each rested a hand on the other’s neck or shoulder.

As if on cue, they both released each other, moving backwards, both curious if that would cause their minds to separate, at least to some extent. Even as they walked to other sides of the room, Simmons could feel Fitz in the back of her mind, soft but perfectly audible, like music playing from another floor of a house just loud enough to be understood. Neither could make out the actual words of the other’s thoughts, but each could feel a distinct sense of wrongness the further away they moved. So they retreated back to the center of the room, standing the same slightly too close distance they always assumed when in the same room.

Cautiously, Simmons reached a hand out to Fitz’s face again. She brushed his lips with her fingertips, curious once again to see if she felt it as well. And when she did, she didn’t hear him think her name, but felt it somewhere in his mind, softly.  _ Jemma.  _ Neither of them is sure who closed the distance between them the rest of the way, or whose lips touched whose first, because it did not matter. They moved as one. Each could feel everything the other did, and the ghosts of each other’s thoughts in their heads as they kissed was like a forest fire; all consuming. 

When they pulled away, once again, neither was sure who stepped back forth, and as they gasped for breath, their hearts thrummed in unison. Neither of them said the words  _ I love you  _ but it was there, a quiet but distinct hum in both their minds. 

That night, both curled up in Fitz’s bed clutching each other like children during a storm, they both dreamt of bonfires and clean mountain air. 

 

As fate would have it, one day they were needed to fight. The war against the Kaiju had been waging for months, and fighters and supplies were getting low. Marshall Pentecost wasn’t especially thrilled at risking the lives of his two best scientists by throwing them out to sea to fight a category four, but they were out of options. He kept a close eye on the comms and monitors as the pair fought, impressed by how well they worked together even as he worried about their combat skills.    
  


A shrill scream ripped itself from Simmons’ throat as Robo Oparin was knocked backwards. Her entire system was in searing pain, and she could tell Fitz wasn’t much better, barely clinging to consciousness. With effort, they righted the Jaeger, their movements clumsy and forced, but still in sync. The category four lunged at them again and Simmons pulled her right arm back and sent her fist flying forward, plunging the toxin filled needles on the Jaeger’s knuckles into the monster’s belly. It let out a wail and started to fall. But in a panic, the duo realized the kaiju was falling forward. 

_ Fitz!! Faster!  _

_ I’m trying, I think my leg’s broken.  _

_ I know I can feel it. But we’ve got to- _ her thought was cut off as the Kaiju thrashed down on top of them, plunging the Jaeger underwater. half of Simmons’ brain went dark, and she looked to her left. Fitz was unconscious, knocked out by the fall. 

“Get out of there, Simmons.” Pentecost shouted over the coms. 

“Sorry sir, but I can’t do that." 

"Get out of the Jaeger, we’ll fly a team out to get you and recover the jaeger and Fitz if we can. but get out of there." 

Simmons stopped speaking after that, focusing her energy on trying to think Fitz awake and rock the Jaeger up and out from under the dead kaiju by herself. Fitz’s harness was crushed, she’d never be able to get him out underwater without hurting them both. If she could just walk the jaeger to shore, they both stood a much better chance of survival. And Fitz wasn’t just her drift partner, he was her best friend, he was her entire world. The idea of living the rest of her life without him was unacceptable. They went down together or not at all. 

"Simmons, what the hell are you doing?” Pentecost demanded again, but Simmons ignored him, managing the roll the jaeger over, tossing the Kaiju off of it. Struggling to her feet, the Jaeger followed suit. Her head was screaming at her, the neural load of managing the robot wearing on her system, and her body was battered and bruised from the fall. but she had to try. 

_ I’m gonna get us to shore, Leo.  _ she thought as loud as she could, trudging slowly through the water.  _ I’m gonna get us to shore and I’m going to get your out of this damned robot and you’re going to be just fine.  _ She gritted her teeth against the pain and took a few more steps, seeing the shoreline approaching not too far away. She could here Pentecost yelling at the others in the Shatterdome to send a rescue team to the beach, yelling at her once again to get out, but she kept quiet, focusing completely on walking, until she heard the phrase ‘collateral damage’ from someone on the other end of coms. 

“Leopold Fitz is NOT collateral damage! He is a valued member of this unit, he is my drift partner, he is my best friend, and I will walk this god forsaken robot to shore and save his life if it bloody kills me!” her voice is strained by by the stress her mind and body are under, but everyone goes quiet after that, focusing on rescue efforts instead. She hears a chopper approaching in the distance just as the Jaeger’s foot meets sand. Instantly, her will gives out and she collapses, the Jaeger falling to the ground. Hissing in pain, she tugs herself free of her harness and tears through the broken metal and plastic around Fitz, tugging him gracelessly from the Jaeger and into the sand as she yanks his helmet open. After pulling her own helmet off, she lays her hands on either side of his face. 

And when she feels the flicker of fingers on her own cheeks, when she can feel his sensations ghosting through her nerves, she knows he’ll be alright. Just as the chopper is getting close enough to fling sand everywhere, Fitz’s eyes open. 

“Jemma.” he says softly. 

“And there you are. Thank god." 

He tries to speak, but the chopper drowns them out, and a med team pulls them on board, not batting an eye when the two chose to squeeze onto one gurney. Some drift partners found comfort in the tactile presence of the other, and Fitz and Simmons were known for being both especially tactile and especially drift compatible. 

After they’ve both been evaluated for extensive physical or mental damage, they’re sent back to their room, with Fitz on crutches. Simmons can feel the dull ache of his injury in her own leg, the same way Fitz can feel the thrumming headache wearing on Simmons’ nerves in his own temples. They curl up in Fitz’s bed, their bodies crowded so close that the ghost drifting, something they’ve always been especially susceptible to, made it impossible for them to tell whose feelings were whose. But that was how they liked it, both of their thoughts and feelings swirled and tangled into one, like they were a single entity.  

"How did we get to shore, Jemma?” Fitz asks softly, even though he basically already knows the answer. 

“I solo piloted us onto the beach." 

"Jem, you could have died." 

"Yes, well, you could have too. We could both always almost die. but I was fine and you weren’t. And you know what we say." 

"Together or not at all.” he nods, his voice low, and she can almost feel the words shaking her own vocal chords. 

“Exactly.” she mumbles, her whisper low against his neck. he kisses her then, and like always, their nerve endings lose track of who is who, and when they finally fall asleep, a tangle of limbs and whispers, even they do not know where one starts and the other ends. 

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally two drabbles I posted ages on my tumblr, shyrensiren, that I decided to combine, clean up and toss up here. Hope it was enjoyable!


End file.
